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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long does it take a tree to recreate ninety-nine percent of its living parts?
(a) twenty-five years
(b) one year
(c) a lifetime
(d) thirty days

2. How do honey bees survive the cold of winter?
(a) build nest in the ground and sleep during winter
(b) cluster together in giant balls
(c) go to sleep inside their honey combs
(d) they don't survive, honey bees die off in the winter

3. Dillard thought once that awesome artistry can be laced with savagery. To what did she refer?
(a) when her tomcat bit the head off a mouse
(b) when ants attacked a lady bug
(c) when a thunderstorm blew down a tree
(d) when she watched sharks tear into a school of fish

4. How are ladybugs shipped to gardeners?
(a) they are packed in soil and water
(b) the hibernating bugs are packed in boxes of pine cones
(c) they are shipped in the spring, the nests are shipped in one piece
(d) captured in nets and sedated with alcohol

5. Why does Dillard believe humans are vulnerable?
(a) because humans are gullible
(b) because of how easy it is for death to find them
(c) because there is a lot of violence in the world
(d) because humans are emotionally out of control

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the author think nature experiments with insects' shape, form and "niche?"

2. In Chapter 7 who gravitates towards the circle on the bottom of Dillard's fishbowl?

3. How does the author say one can obtain "unself-conscious state?"

4. What does the author believe separates humans from their creator and humans from each other?

5. What does Dillard suggest spring is about?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the Eskimos hunt in the fall and what can happen if they fail?

2. Up to now Dillard has tried to just "notice" creation. In Chapter 8, Section 2, her focus changes. How does her focus change and what might it symbolize?

3. Dillard still rails against the seeming cruelty of nature; however, what else is she seeing by Chapter 13?

4. Briefly tell the story written in Chapter 15 about a young man and his mother.

5. The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is, on the surface, a stream of consciousness journey through the natural world around Tinker Creek. What does "stream of consciousness" writing entail? In your answer address plot, characterization and theme.

6. What does Dillard conclude when she attempts to "view" creation from the standpoint of God?

7. How does Dillard muse on the "how" of creating?

8. Part of Dillard's struggle in her observation of the natural world is how much violence she seems to encounter. How does she relate this to the Hebrew altar?

9. This Chapter is called "Fixed." What are some of Dillard's observations and thoughts that illustrate this title?

10. What physics concept does Dillard use to write about observing muskrats? How does she use it?

(see the answer keys)

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